I’m going to try something new here.

The goal is to post twice a week:

1. One will be something hiking related: hikes I go on, gear, tips and tricks, etc.
2. Two will be posting some inspiration and positivity from thoughts I have on my long hikes.

Why inspiration you might ask? I’ve had the privilege of being surrounded by inspiring and positive people throughout my entire life, particularly my Grandfather. I’m going to devote these posts to him because the entire time I knew him, he never had a bad day. He had the biggest impact on my life other than my own two parents. No matter what curveballs life threw at him, he took them in stride and always managed to find the silver lining. All he wanted to do was spread positivity and help others. He left a lasting impact on so many people, and now I am going to do my best to share his life lessons with as many people as I can through this format.

I’m going to start with his life motto:

“All is Well”

Seems simple, right? 3 little words, a total of 9 letters. There is so much more to it than that though. All is Well means that everything is ok, everything has always been ok, and always will be ok.

You may ask: “Well this terrible thing happened in my life, so how can you say that “All is Well?”

Often we have no control over things that happen in our lives, life is full of surprises, no one said it was going to be easy.

So what DO you have control over?

Your Attitude.

Attitude is everything. Your attitude dictates how you approach a situation. By having an “All is Well” attitude regardless of the circumstances, you are equipping yourself with the best tool in your tool belt. Let’s take a look a scenario:
“I made a bad investment and just lost a ton of money.”
Ok
So you made a mistake, how do you learn from it? What can you take from it to prevent this from happening in the future?

You’re in this situation already, so why not think to yourself: “All is Well.” If you can think it, and TRULY believe it then you’ll come to find that by having that attitude towards life will help you handle every negative situation that comes up. It will help you look at a negative and help it become a positive. Look back on your life and on many negative situations you were in.

How many of those situations, looking back now, do you see as a positive that helped you get to where you are today?

How many of those situations would have been made better in the moment had you handled them with a positive “All is Well” attitude?

Responding to a situation negatively does nothing but make you and others around you feel worse. I get it, we’re human, and sometimes we can’t help the initial negative mental response. But what we can help is allowing those negative thoughts and reactions to run rampant.

You can control them, trust me.

I understand that this is much easier said than done, I’m still working on it myself, and that’s ok.

When I look back on my life and the situations I handled with an “All is Well” attitude ended up resolving themselves much quicker and in a more positive way than if I had taken the negative attitude. You will be absolutely amazed by how having an “All is Well” attitude and outlook on life can totally change your life.

His “All is Well” attitude was my Grandfather’s biggest asset and because of it he lived a happier life than anyone I’ve ever met. We try to assign happiness as an equivalent to external things, particularly material things such as money, status, cars, lifestyle, etc. When really some of the most monetarily rich people can be the most unhappy and negative people. Happiness comes from within, and an easy way to start is with a positive “All is Well” attitude.

Whenever you have the impulse to think something negative in a certain situation: take a deep breath, calm your mind, and say to yourself: “All is Well.” And make sure you believe it! The changes you will start to see in your life will be unbelievable.

“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.”

-Wade Boggs